


Beginning At The End

by Hermster



Category: inFAMOUS: Second Son
Genre: Angst, Archive warning will probably also change, Drama, It's gonna get dark probably, Mentions of Abuse in Later Chapters, Multi, Polyamorous Characters, Polyamory, Polycons, Rating will change, Romance, Slow Burn, god I'm terrible at tags, mention of drugs in later chapters, mentions of rape in later chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-28
Updated: 2017-06-13
Packaged: 2018-09-02 20:19:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8682064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hermster/pseuds/Hermster
Summary: Now that Augustine is gone, Delsin has to try and live his life after the credits roll. With the help of Fetch and Eugene, the three of them have to piece their lives back together while helping protect their now free fellow Conduits.
This started as a story for NaNoWriMo, but god knows I can't adhere to a fucking schedule so I'll try to update asap.





	1. DELSIN

**Author's Note:**

> As of night now, this is going up without being edited because a.) it's almost 6 am and I couldn't give a fuck, and b.) I don't have an editor. So please bare with me for the time being. Please support me by commenting and giving kudos! If you wanna be extra awesome, go ahead and reblog this fic on Tumblr too! My writing blog is called http://tipsofthefingers.tumblr.com ! Thank you, I hope you enjoy my fic.

Two weeks.

It had been two weeks, four days, thirteen hours, thirty seven minutes, and twelve seconds since I watched my brother fall to his death in Puget Sound. I wasn’t entirely sure it had really sunk in yet. All the shit afterwards had kept me too busy to really process everything. When I was in Seattle, there was always something to keep me keyed up; another battle, another attack, another enemy to fight. But now?

When I came back to the tribe, I was still riding that high of being the hero, the savior of conduits, the Champion on the Just and whatnot. Everyone in Seattle knew my name (Delsin, I had to tell people. Not Dilbert. Not Banner Man. D-E-L-S-I-N. How was that difficult?). Now that I was here, though, most of that seemed to vanish. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still stopped all the time by people saying how proud they are, what an inspiration I am. I even have my own fan club (shout out to all the beautiful Rowe-mantics out there), but here I felt like I had a place before. Before I was a hero, before I was Banner Man, before I was a conduit. Here, everything was quiet. I finally felt like I could lay down and rest without looking over my shoulder. I was just Delsin. I was just another Akomish, and that was okay with me.

Once I’d removed the concrete from everyone’s legs and gave my brother a proper tribute the best I knew how, I didn’t do anything. No, seriously, I’ve been up on the cannery roof every day since I got back. Sure, I spent _some_ time at home, but only to do normal proper human things like eating and sleeping. Here, I could spend hours staring at the clouds, listening to the waves and the gulls and the workers. The only problem was as the days went by, it was harder and harder to work off restless energy. Jiggling my leg only gets me so far.

Pushing up from my reclined position on the tin roof, I rolled my shoulders and stretched my arms above my head with a heavy sigh. There had to be something to do to work off the buzzing in my limbs, something to stop the white noise in my head. Before my thoughts wandered back to--

So anyway, back to literally anything but whatever I was about to think.

I shook myself free of the memories threatening to overtake my mind, locking and sealing them behind some invisible door in my head and calling it good. Jolts of neon sparked at my fingertips as I tried to physically shake the train of thought off. Call me sentimental or whatever, but the little spark made my heart squeeze for a minute. It just brought back a lot of things I thought I’d left in Seattle. The same pink color framing a pixie face and a razor smile..

I hadn’t spoken to Eugene or Fetch in weeks. I’d tried to contact them both, but I couldn’t seem to get in touch. And it wasn’t like I had a network of people to rely on anymore. Reggie was gone, my friends were gone, it wasn’t like I had a lot of friends here to begin with..

Word of advice to you kids: don’t get attached to people, it just sucks in the end.

I shouldn’t say that, I didn’t know what they were up to, it was just harder than I thought being alone. Not just lonely but feeling alone.

Thankfully, I still had one gal who was always crazy about me.

I shot down into the cannery, not bothering with the stairs. When you have crazy mutant powers like I do, it’s much faster to just vibrate through the ceiling. Though seeing the inside for the first time after my first encounter with Hank was weird. Have you ever seen pictures of somewhere really exciting for ages and been like ‘one day I’ll go there and it’ll be awesome’ and then when you get there there’s weeds everywhere, it reeks like piss, and you can faintly hear wildlife making strange wildlife noises in the background?

Yeah, it was sorta like that. I didn’t really wanna think about it.

“Betty!” I yelled, bypassing most everything to head into the offices, shoving my hands into my pockets. “You in there?”

“I’m in the back!” Ahh, there was her sweet voice. As I walked into the room she stayed in, it was more than obvious this is where she’d been working for most of her life. The homemade quilt tossed over the back of her chair, the little mementos from children she babysat and took care of in her free time, the little hand carved animals she’d been gifted. All of it screamed Betty. I loved her. She took care of me and my brother and I owed her a lot. I wondered if I would ever be able to repay her for everything she’s ever done for me.

She was fiddling with her radio -- a gift Reggie had gotten her with his first paycheck, the practical idiot -- with a look of partial concentration. I swaggered into the room and placed a hand on her desk.

“Have you seen an older woman around, by chance? About.. yea high--” I gestured to the middle of my chest, “beautiful brown eyes, long flowing silver hair--”

“Hah hah, Delsin.” Betty chided half heartedly with a small roll of her eyes. “Don’t think I don’t know you’re around, I can hear your boots _clomping_ away up on the roof.”

“Hey, I don’t clomp, alright? I glide along the rooftops like a cool mutant ninja. Less turtle though, more.. person.” I put my elbows on her desk and grinned, bouncing my brows a few times, which earned me the most unamused look of ‘Really?’ from Betty.

“What are you after?” She asked suspiciously, turning the radio off for now and giving me her attention.

“Nothing, nothing!” She didn’t look convinced. “I was just.. thinking about heading back into Seattle is all..” I trailed off, not looking up to meet her eyes.

Betty furrowed her brows. “Is that a small decision? People loved you weeks ago, sure, but you can’t be sure how they’ll react now that the dust has settled.” I looked up are her with a small grin and she rolled her eyes. “Pun not intended."

“I know, but I really feel like I should be there. You know, helping Conduits, running out the rest of the DUP... finding Eugene and Fetch..”

Betty had heard enough about the two of them from me once I’d come back. While she was still recovering from the concrete being removed, I’d sat and told her everything in as much detail as I could. Her idea, not mine. I didn’t really touch on Reggie, but I think she expected that. We both have a lot of healing to do.

Heaving a small sigh, she reached out and placed a hand over mine. “If you have to go, I won’t stop you.” Before I could thank her, she held up a finger. “ _But._ You have to call me _every day_ you’re gone. _And_ you have to promise not to do anything stupid.” “C’mon, when have I--” “Promise!”

Dammit, those puppy eyes of hers always wore me down. I huffed.

“Alright. I promise. I’ll check in everyday. _And_ I’ll make sure not to do anything too stupid.”

Betty’s shoulders sagged a little in relief after that, feeling some weight being lifted from them. “Thank you. Now go, I’m missing my radio shows.” Playfully shooing me with her hands, she turned back to her radio and began to fiddle again.

I smiled, leaned over to kiss her cheek, and muttered a thanks before heading out of the room. I could almost feel the fond, motherly smile she threw in my direction as I sauntered out with a wave of my hand.

Bursting through the cannery doors with the neon still thrumming through my body, I took a couple minutes to run through a couple of quick stretches. Sure, maybe it sounds stupid to you, but have you ever run faster than the eye can see? I don’t need a charlie horse in the middle of Superman-ing it over office buildings. 

It was a weird feeling, going into Seattle with no real mission. I mean, yeah I was gonna go look for Fetch and Eugene, maybe kick some residual DUP butt, but this was different. There wasn’t any pressure, there wasn’t any rush, no life or death situations to worry about. Maybe I could see the Space Needle properly this time.

Straightening up, I rolled my shoulders back one last time before kicking off the cement, bursting into neon particles and heading for the big city.


	2. FETCH

Being a criminal turned superhero who saved an entire city is not all it’s cracked up to be. You’d think that after everything I’d done for this city, they’d show me a little gratitude. Or at least get me a better apartment. Instead, I got to wake up in my tiny Capitol Hill studio to the sound of the neighbors to my left screaming at each other and the ones to my right fucking and slamming against the wall.

Awesome. 

I really needed a new place.

Sighing in annoyance and refusing to get up at fucking seven oh eight am, I rolled over and checked my phone. A text from Eugene, a couple missed calls from my parents, another from Delsin, and a few notifications from various apps. More shit I’d have to deal with when I got up proper. Except the notifications. I had cat videos to watch, dammit. I plugged in my headphones and went to work.

Once I’d finished scrolling through the Instagram of cat videos I followed, I stretched under my blankets and sighed, checking the clock again. Closer to nine now. A much more reasonable time to be up and pretending to be human. I rolled off the bed, still wrapped in my blanket, and shuffled over to my coffee maker to start heating up water. Honestly, whoever invented those little coffee machines you put the little pods into should get a raise.

While that was going, I leaned against the counter and unlocked my phone to message Eugene.

 **EUGENE** : hey fetch  
**EUGENE** : are you free  
**EUGENE** : we should go see you know who today

Why was he so cryptic all the time? Not that I minded, it was sort of cute in a very Eugene sort of way. At least, it was cute until I remembered that the secretive habits had probably spawned from the hell hole that was Curdun Cay.

 **FETCH** : sure, voldemort.  
**FETCH** : time?

I set my phone down on the counter and as I waited for Eugene to reply, taking out my sugar and the rest of my hazelnut creamer from the fridge. It wasn’t until I was getting out my little coffee pod (Tully’s French roast is the best, they really know what they’re doing) that my phone buzzed with a response text. Which was fast, even for Eugene. He must have had his phone close by.

 **EUGENE** : haha very funny

I giggled softly at the response before continuing on.

 **EUGENE** : i dont know what time  
**EUGENE** : what are you doing today

Yawning, I put my cup onto the little tray in the machine and pressed GO, letting my coffee make itself as I texted the boy wonder.

 **FETCH** : jack shit.  
**EUGENE** : me too  
**EUGENE** : but i still have a couple things to wrap up here  
**EUGENE** : do you want to meet up around one  
**FETCH** : one is fine.  
**EUGENE** : okay  
**EUGENE** : see you then

I checked my phone as I added two spoonfuls of sugar to my drink. One, huh? That gave me at least a couple of hours to get ready, which was good because I'd been putting off showering a day longer than I should have. I stirred the drink absently as I took note of the other notifications, trying to decide in which order to tackle them. Delsin.. he was a whole situation I didn’t want to really get into at the moment. If I saw him again, I knew I’d want to tell him everything and I’d worked too hard to ruin the surprise now. Everyday for over two weeks, I’ve wondered if keeping Delsin in the dark was the right thing to do, but I couldn’t tell him now, not when we were so close to success.

Ugh. I rubbed my face aggressively, absently tugging my nose ring before taking my mug into the bathroom. It wasn’t anything pretty, but it was mine and it was more than I’d had in years. Living on the streets really makes you thankful for the little things. As much as I bitched about how shitty my tiny apartment is, I’m grateful for it. And as much as I hated most of the cops, I was grateful for them and the city officials for giving me and Eugene jobs helping the current Conduits in the city, as well as keeping the peace between them and those protesting assholes who still decided to keep calling us Bio-terrorists despite us saving their goddamn lives.

Ungrateful asses.

Huffing, I set my coffee down on the back of the toilet, pushing aside an empty bottle of pink dye I’d used the day before, and dropped my blanket to start undressing. As I undid my hair from the bun I’d left it in overnight, I thought about the second notification I’d ignored.

When I left home, it had been for good. My powers had manifested, I wasn’t wanted, so me and Brent skipped town. Ran across the country and ended up in Seattle. We stayed here for years, living on the streets and getting tangled in the drugs before it all caught up to us. Then Brent had died, I was alone, and Curdun Cay was my new home. It was only very recently that I’d managed to get out; made an escape from the truck taking me somewhere else. Carting me off to some other facility to be experimented on and torture and god knows what. I could almost feel the needles under my skin again.

Blinking rapidly, I exhaled hard and shook my head and went over to the tub to turn on the water and flipped the stopper. That was over now. The DUP was disbanded, destroyed, and it gave me an opportunity to reconnect with my parents. I’d sent them a couple texts after everything had happened, but was shocked when I actually got a reply. Now they wanted to talk more, but how could I tell them that Brent had died because of me? That I had been the one to actually blast a hole through his chest in a drug induced delusion? That I’d killed their only son, their child, my own brother?

Once the water filled the very bottom of the tub, I sat in my underwear on the edge and dipped my feet in. As I grabbed my coffee again, I wiped a stray tear from my eyes and exhaled shakily. It was hard, remembering Brent, but I couldn’t just put him in the past. Even in death, I always felt like he was around, giving me advice and guiding my life in the right direction. I just wish he could be here to actually help me. And yeah, maybe it wasn’t my fault exactly -- Shane was to blame for that -- but I wasn’t innocent and I had to live the rest of my life with his blood on my hands.

I don’t know how long I was out for. When I get like this, in this weird loop of thought I can’t seem to get out of, my body runs on autopilot with my mind zones out. Like my head is filled with white noise and time stops, moves backwards, then starts again in double time. When I finally pulled out of it, the tub was dangerously high and my coffee mug was empty.

“God fucking dammit.” I hissed as I clumsily set the mug down on the toilet lid before reaching to slam the faucet off. I let some of it out as I sank into the hot water, careful not to let it overflow, and plugged it again when it was just above my shoulders. As I laid in the tub, I listened to the sounds of the city from my nearby open window. The cars driving by, the birds cooing on the roofs, the bustle of people getting here and there on the sidewalks. It was calming. I’d lived here so long, it was strange to think I’d never been a native. The urban jungle seemed like the kind of place I’d been made for. Maybe not before my powers manifested, but it fit Present Fetch and she was the kind of girl I liked.

I laid around in the warm water for roughly an hour before I actually went about cleaning myself. As much as I love baths, they’re almost useless for actually getting clean. I took my time washing my hair, letting my freshly dyed strands tint the water bright pink, before I stood up and started to scrub body with my dollar store soap. The label said lavender but it definitely just smelled like generic clean soap smell.

Once I was sudsy, I rinsed off with my shower head and drained my bath water. When I checked the time, it was a half hour to eleven. I was still new to this whole having a place to live thing, but I had gotten into the swing of having a morning routine. I dried off quickly before wrapping my hair up in my towel, knowing the pink of the dye would show up on the pale material but not really caring. I dressed in a pair of thick leggings and a long sleeved black top, setting Brent’s coat aside for later and pulled on a pair of dark shorts. My boots were by the door, I’d slip them on when I was ready to leave.

Back in the bathroom, I plugged in my hair dryer while wiping the mirror clean of condensation. I never bothered with most makeup, but I spent a half hour fussing and swearing as I painstakingly did my eyebrows, eye shadow, and eyeliner. The end result was worth it; I looked like I could kick someone’s ass, which was sort of what I had to look like with this new job. Plenty of new Conduits were pulling into town thinking they could take over and do whatever they want. Not on my watch.

I grabbed my brush from the side of the sink and began to brush through my hair, using my towel to continue to dry it, and only once it was damp and combed through did I start my dryer and blow out my hair. When I couldn’t be assed to care that it was still a little wet, when it was good enough, I turned it off and unplugged it from that wall, storing it away again. I grabbed my coffee mug and put it in the sink before going to get my phone again. I’d killed an hour fucking around which meant I had an hour and a half to get to Eugene.

Grabbing my brother’s jacket, I patted down the pockets. Wallet and keys secured in one pocket, I shoved my phone in another, and slipped my feet into my trusty worn boots and headed out. As I locked my door, I waved to one of the kids down the hall who was playing with his dog. He was alright, but his mom was an anti Conduit bitch so I never did anything more than wave. Once I snuck him a candy bar and he almost cried.

Moving from place to place wasn't difficult for me, so it would only take me about ten minutes to get to Eugene, which meant I had over an hour to spare. Stretching, I felt my limbs buzz with energy before I took off down the street and up a building, planning on getting clam chowder before meeting up with He Who Snores (and drools, that was a less than great experience).

On my way, I stopped now and then to chat up a few of the homeless folks and gave them a few dollars. I'm not loaded, but I always have spare money for these guys. I knew what it was like to be there.

“Hey Mabel.” I greeted, crouching next to a dark skinned heavy set homeless woman in two layers and three blankets. Seattle nights could be real harsh, especially in the winter. Opening my wallet, I pulled out a twenty I’d found around the Space Needle and handed it to her. “Anything new I should know?”

Mabel took the bill and stuffed it into her ratty bra, which reminded me that I needed to grab some second hand clothes and blankets from a thrift store for a couple of the homeless people that set up nearby. Give back what you can and all that.

“I heard somethin’ about a fight with those protesters and some of the new conduits who just rolled into town.” The woman admitted after a few moments. “Heard it was a struggle to keep people in check.” “Ugh, great. More trigger happy conduits.” “Oh, I wasn’t talkin’ about the conduits.” The woman wheezeed a small chuckle. “Those protesters clocked one of your boys somethin’ fierce.”

Great. More work for me. “Thank, Mab. Tell Dante we’re playing cards this Thursday and make sure you stay safe.” I leaned down and hugged her tightly, silently praying for her safety to whoever’ll listen before pulling back and bouncing on the balls of my feet. “I’ll see you tonight!” I waved to her once more before I burst into neon particles and scaled along the side of the building, nothing in my head but my location and the sound of air rushing around me.

The rest of the hour passed pretty peacefully; I spent the majority of it sitting on top of the Space Needle sipping chowder before making my way to Eugene, though I wasn’t exactly looking forward to it. Some of the places south of the main downtown area were sketch as all hell, but there wasn’t anywhere else we could get what we needed without anyone asking questions. Thank god no one was there when I arrived. And by ‘no one’, I mean the cops. I don’t need them busting in on my operation and blowing everything sky high.

I touched down in the alley next to a somewhat unassuming white building, unmarked except for the sign that use to be the name for an old laundromat. The doors are unlocked (stupidly) so I pushed them open and let myself in before putting my hands in my pocket, scuffing my boots on the ground.

“Helloooo?” I called almost boredly, quickly greeted by the sound of shoes slapping against the linoleum. Rounding the corner is none other than ol’ four eyes himself, orange and black backpack gone and set aside for now. His signature hoodie hid most of his face in shadows, but once it got pushed back, long lashes casted a shadow over nervous brown eyes. Something happened, I can tell.

Eugene spun on his heels and ran into the back room and I followed as quick as I could. The worst plays through my head; something happened, someone found him, everything we’ve done over the last couple weeks, gone.

Hell no. Not on my watch.

Boy Wonder disappeared into a room shortly before me, and I’m immediately calmed by the sound of a steady heart monitor. Thank god, he’s still alive.

I walked over to the makeshift hospital bed and sit next to Reggie’s unconscious body as his chest rises and falls gradually. Evenly. Better than he’d been breathing for a while.

“He woke up a little while ago.” Eugene’s voice startled me out of my thoughts and I have to take a minute to process what he’s said. When it clicks, I couldn’t help but sputter.

“Wh--! He---! You couldn’t’ve-- You should’ve sent me a message about this!” I managed, getting up and pacing back and forth.

“He wasn’t awake for that long!” The boy defended, shrinking back on himself a little as he sat across from me with a small ‘whump!’. “All he did was ask for water and he wanted to know where Delsin was.. but he fell asleep after that. I was about to text you, but you--” Eugene cut himself off as a small groan filled the space between them and Reggie shifted slowly on the bed. I rushed over to the bedside and looked over the waking man, unsure what to do. Ugh, where was that stupid nurse I was paying to look after him?!

“Nng..” He rasped quietly as he rouseed out of his long slumber, brunneous eyes fluttering open to look around the dark room, disoriented. “Wha..?”

Eugene and I looked at each other for a moment before his expression scrunched into something akin to determination. 

“We’ve got to tell Delsin.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I uploaded this on my phone lmao so sorry for inconsistencies and whatnot. Special thanks to emperorperpetua on Tumblr for editing this chapter for me and snuggle-tart for keeping me going!
> 
> Also sorry this was released so late, I'm trying to write every day and churn out chapters but life's gotten in the way and writing is Hard.

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter is a little short, but they'll be longer in the future probably. I have at least 10 chapters planned for now, so please stick with me!
> 
> EDIT: I changed it to first person cause it's just easier to write.


End file.
